Cartesian Argument Analysis

René Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher that developed epistemology, the theory that one should know how one knows something instead of just knowing what they know. He also encouraged the questioning of everything and rejecting scholastic knowledge as the complete and utmost truth unless it is supported by clear evidence. He influenced many people with his ideas, including François Poulain de la Barre.

François Poulain de la Barre (1647-1725) was a writer, Cartesian and feminist philosopher. The Collins English Dictionary (2014) defines a Cartesian is of or relating to the works of René Descartes. As Poulain was influenced by Descartes, he questioned the nature of the sex and why women were regarded as inferior to men dating all

The first argument is that everyone believes the truth to be what they’re told is true and what they’re used to as it seems almost paradoxical to question it or study it seriously and objectively, one such thing people believe to be the truth is that women are inferior to men. The second argument argues that as women have never been in power before, it is only because of this that men believe that women are inferior and would be incapable of holding power as they are regarded as the weaker sex. This in effect makes women themselves believe that they would not be successful leaders and instead they bow down to the opinion of men about themselves. The third argument presented is that the past has aided to the faulty opinion that the sexes are not equal. In the past when both men and women were considered equal, the women began to become weak due to the aftermath of childbirth and so they spent their time more inside taking care of the children. On the other hand, men were not affected spent their time outside and slowly became the leader, as it was his duty to protect his family. As men were regarded as stronger now, they began to take over new tribes and the victor usually despised people who seemed to be the weakest among the conquered, thus women were left to become inferior. Another argument is one that women were never invited to academies and so were never given the chance to become a part of education and to be educated. Poulain states that some women did in fact manage to fain access to the writings of scholars and educated themselves, however, men refused to let the intellectual qualities of their women shine through and instead concentrated on their beauty. In effect, the studies